In the End
by WildwingSuz
Summary: And in the end… 3/3


**Author's Notes: **This triad of stories came about in a rather convoluted way. For some time I've wanted to write his/hers/theirs about "all things", and I had planned to use _only_ scenes that were shown, not my usual favorite off-camera moments. I wrote the first story from Scully's POV as she stood looking down at him in the bed, then the second while Mulder was dozing… and then realized that I had already written a "Mulder dozing and thinking" story. Oops. So instead I decided to use the scene where he covers her with the blanket on the couch for the first one, the already-written Scully one for the second, and a different timeline from the show's aired episodes for this one. Though "Brand X" actually aired after "all things", "Hollywood AD" was _filmed_ first. It occurred to me that after all the thoughts and feelings I attributed to them in the first two stories, having to work together all day with an observer after their first time together would cause some interesting thoughts.

Spoilers: _Hollywood AD._

No betas were harmed in the making of this little tale…  
I was just too impatient to get it out there.

* * *

**In the End  
**Rated PG-13  
By Suzanne L. Feld

The quiver of hope I'd felt was barely the beginning, and thank God it only got better from there.

The awkward morning-after I'd dreaded had never materialized; there had been some knowing looks between us the next day at work, but nothing more. Of course we'd been assigned the O'Fallen case with that producer-slash-pain in the ass following us around so we had no time to talk until late that evening.

I wasn't sure how Mulder would receive me that evening, if it was too forward of me to go to his apartment or should I have waited for him to come to me. However, with our glacial pace over the past seven years, I suspected that if I waited for him I'd be collecting Social Security before we slept together again.

It was a good decision.

After agreeing to go to California to check out Federman's movie we just sat there for a while watching that god-awful movie. Then, totally without planning it, we turned to each other and said:

"Scully, you want to stay tonight?"

"Mulder, mind if I spend the night?"

Partners indeed.

***

When I had thought, earlier, that tomorrow would be our new beginning I had no real idea.

The entire next day I kept finding that thought around corners, having it hit me at the oddest times: _last night I made love with Scully_. Every now and then I had trouble concentrating on the case, though luckily it was so fascinating and somewhat maddening that it did help take my mind off what went though it every time I happened to glance at my partner. I kept having flashes of her naked, her thick red hair spread across my white pillowcase, and the smooth paleness of her body against my darker skin.

When we left Micah Hoffman's apartment and Scully went to her car with a friendly but clearly non-romantic good night, I assumed that was it. She either didn't want to sleep with me tonight or she just needed some time away from me; whichever it was I decided not to push the issue and let her go. I was determined not to screw this up and, like the hackneyed old saying goes, to set her free and see if she came back with no enticement on my part.

And she did. Goddamn, she did.

The entire time she was sitting on the arm of the couch and we were talking about the case—the grin she gave me after her crack about the Roadrunner was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my life—I was thinking about how badly I wanted her to stay the night with me again, or ask me over to her place.

When it seemed that we had wrapped up our business, it occurred to me that perhaps she wanted me to ask her to stay. She had come to my place; the least I could do was to take the next step. If she said no then I'd know I had read her wrong. When I turned to her and said:

"Scully, you want to stay tonight?"

I was surprised to hear at the same moment:

"Mulder, mind if I spend the night?"

Ka-zing, Mulder shoots and scores… figuratively speaking—for now—of course.

***

Now we're both truly happy for the first time in so many years that neither of us can remember exactly when that was, not that it really matters. Regardless, we'll enjoy this as long as we can because if there's one thing we've both learned in our years with the X-Files it's that happiness can't last, contentedness is only temporary, and we'll never stop having to fight the good fight one way or another.

However, now we'll do it together in ways we've only dreamed of before. In the end, it will be what saves us.

_finis_


End file.
